Saturday at The National Drive

More and more people seem to be appearing. The morning briefing was packed as Mike Lyon gave made the announcements to the changes in the schedule after yesterday’s rain. Lessons continued. Dana Bright talked about “What kind of driver are you?” Jeff Morse followed with a talk on communication between you and your horse. The big activity of the morning was the parade through the public section of the horse park. I’m guessing about 75 turnouts participated – everything from minis to single horses, to teams of drafts, mules and donkeys. There were a lot of visitors to the Kentucky Horse Park and they seemed to enjoy watching the carriages go by as they toured the park on foot.

Donnetta Zimmer, who communicates with horses ‘talked’ to several horses and ponies and translated to their owners. It was quite impressive to hear what the horses told her that she couldn’t have possibly have known otherwise.

Donetta Zimmer, left, tells the young man on the right what his pony is thinking.

A set of horse scales was set up for a few hours so drivers could bring their horses to be weighed. It was fun to stand on the side and guess and see how close we came to the actual weight.

Can you guess how much this big guy weighs? (1948 lbs!)

Many went out in the afternoon on a trace pace. A course is being flagged for a three day event next weekend, and I believe an Endurance ride is also going to take place. The park is a very busy place.

I’ll be leaving early Sunday morning so will not be able to blog. But we’ll have the full story in the Jan/Feb. issue of The Driving Digest. Thanks for following along this week.

Thanks for the updates and the photos of the National Drive. It was great to finally meet you and Tom. I enjoyed being one of the clinicians this year and am already looking forward doing it again in 2010. My thanks to all, esp Mike Lyon and all his *wonderful* volunteers, for making it happen! See you next year.